Environmental Protection

Our objective is to ensure that with our partners, the borough maintains its high quality environment and the adverse impact of pollution upon health is minimised. We also deal with a wide range of statutory nuisance complaints including, but not restricted to, noise disturbance, artificial light and dust.

Examples include smoke from the burning of materials, smells from trade processes, excessive dust, artificial light glare or overspill. Officers from the Environmental Health Department can offer advice on whether any specific issue may constitute a nuisance

When someone brings a complaint to the attention of the Environmental Health Department, the date, name, address, telephone number and details of the complaint are recorded. The Investigating Officer will ensure the complaint is thoroughly investigated.

An Environmental Health Officer will gather evidence and consider:

legislation

legal powers

professional guidance

The complaint investigation will be recorded in a file unique to that complaint

Environmental Health Officers have powers to:

enter onto any land to examine the existence of a potential nuisance

access premises at any stage of the investigation until the nuisance has been dealt with

Following investigation, there are a number of enforcement options:

no further action – if a complaint is not proven

informal action – verbal or written advice

fixed penalty notice (where this can be used e.g. littering)

formal notice – this details what has to be done to improve the problem and the time within which it must be completed.

If you wish to discuss a potential nuisance or make a complaint please contact us.

While we must accept a certain degree of noise in our daily lives there are some types of noise that are unacceptable. We will investigate nuisance complaints relating to both domestic and commercial premises. Every year we respond to over 800 noise nuisance complaints. The main complaints are:

Barking Dogs

Construction Site Noise

Entertainment Noise

Industrial / Commercial

Intruder Alarms

Noise in the Street

Many noise complaints can be resolved informally by approaching the person responsible for the noise. It is not unusual for them to be unaware that they are disturbing you.

However, it may be unwise to make a complaint in the heat of the moment when you are tired, frustrated or angry. It is better to wait until later when the matter can be discussed calmly. However, informal solutions do not always work and people may have to resort to more formal ways of dealing with the problem.

Clean air is essential for health and an important part of protecting the environment. To ensure good air quality it is important that public authorities at the regional, national and even international level work together

In the UK, a National Air Quality Strategy (NAQS) describes the plans drawn up by the Government and devolved administrations to improve and protect ambient air quality in the UK in the medium term.

As part of the wider strategy each local authority is required to review air quality periodically. In 2016, this council monitored the levels of nitrogen dioxide at 28 locations across the borough as well as maintaining an automated monitoring station at Lonsdale Road in Armagh which continuously measures the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

Air quality across the borough is very good, however a number of discrete pockets exist where persons may be exposed to higher levels of pollution, primarily due to road traffic. The council is working along with our partners such as DAERA to improve the air pollution in these areas.

The Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control regime aims to control air pollution generated by certain industrial activities. These processes are required to obtain a permit in order to operate and allows the holder to operate a process subject to specific conditions which prevent excessive pollution. The council has a programme of inspection for all permitted processes within the borough.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has existing Smoke Control Areas (SCAs) in parts of Portadown, Craigavon and Lurgan as well as a small part of Armagh City.

The images below show the location of the SCAs. If you require further detail about a specific property please do not hesitate to contact the Environmental Health Department by email or telephone.

The introduction of SCAs aimed to control smoke and sulphur dioxide emissions in our urban areas and they have played a key part in successfully lowering the levels of these pollutants. In a SCA you must not emit smoke through a chimney attached to a dwelling. This can be achieved by only using smokeless fuel (authorised fuel) or by using an exempted appliance such as oil or gas central heating. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs regularly updates lists of all approved fuels and exempted appliances. This is published on their website at: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/air-pollution#toc-6